Discarded blood protest in Israel
Aik
Israeli health ministry to reject blood donated by Ethiopian-Israelis.
At least 11 people were injured in clashes with police.
The protestors said that the practice was racism against
Ethiopian-Israelis. The blood has been discarded because of concerns
that it may be contaminated.
Officials say that blood could not be donated by people from specific
countries where Aids was endemic.
"We are healthy people, like everyone else," protestor Galit Maarat,
24, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. "This is unjust, a
terrible affront."
Dr Boaz Lev, the associate director in the Israeli Health ministry,
told the BBC Network Africa programme: "This risk group is not specific
to Israel. All over the world, it is considered a risk group. Obviously
we don't want to subject out patients to even the slightest risk if you
can avoid it."
Israel's Channel 2 TV recently reported that the health ministry had
revived its practice of discarding blood donated by Ethiopian-Israelis.
There were similar protests a decade ago when the practice emerged.
Correspondents say that many people in the Ethiopian-Israeli community
feel they are the target of racial discrimination.
Aik
donated the blood in the first place.
Mariam
couple of days ago about the discarded blood...
Organ donation raises religious doubts in Israel By Ari Rabinovitch
Wed Nov 8, 9:10 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061108/hl_nm/israel_organs_donation_dc&printer=1
Tani Goodman was just 17 when he died and his organs were used to save
the lives of four people.
It did not occur to his mother Maggie, an Orthodox Jew from Jerusalem,
that her religion might get in the way of donating his organs after he
was crushed to death by an automatic gate while attending an
orientation session at a seminary in 2002.
"Saving a life is the most important thing. You don't have to be a
rabbi to see that," she said. "It was the only positive thing that came
out of that black day."
Many people in the Jewish state feel differently, and as a result, the
waiting list for organ transplants is a long one.
Although Israel has an advanced health care system and is a world
leader in medical advancement, only 260 organ transplants were
conducted in 2005. In the United States, about 73 are carried out per
day.
"It hurts knowing that even though we have all the technology, there
are still people dying every week waiting for organs," said Tamar
Ashkenazi, director of Israel's National Transplant Center.
One problem is that, while most Israelis are secular Jews, they often
identify with religion on issues of death and refuse to donate organs,
she said.
Rabbi Daniel Sperber, president of the Institute of Advanced Jewish
Studies at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said many families
refused to allow organs to be removed because the Bible prohibits the
desecration of bodies and delay of burial.
However, he said, Jewish law clearly stated that the concept of
"Pikuach Nefesh," or saving a life, overrode such concerns.
"If the patient was a donor and the family consents, of course taking
an organ is allowed," he said.
LOWEST PERCENTAGE
The Halachic Organ Donation Society, comprising rabbis and doctors from
around the world, said on its Web site that Jews had the lowest
percentage among ethnic groups worldwide of carrying organ donor cards.
"There remains a widespread misperception in Israel that Jewish law
categorically prohibits organ donation," the society said.
More than 10 percent of the people on the transplant waiting list in
Israel died last year, nearly double the figure in the United States
provided by the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Part of the reason for the long wait is that only 4 percent of Israelis
are registered organ donors, far fewer than the 15 to 35 percent in
other Western countries.
As a result, more than half of the Israelis who received transplants
paid for their new organs abroad.
Groups in Israel promoting organ donations have launched a campaign
within the Jewish Orthodox community, hoping that once religious
leaders embrace the concept, secular families will follow suit.
They must overcome some long-held beliefs, such as fears that signing a
donor card invites the "evil eye," or death, or that organs must be
kept in the body to await resurrection when the Messiah comes.
Some scholars suggest that, for some Israelis, a decade of watching
Palestinian suicide bombings on television and religious workers
collecting scattered body parts for burial may have exaggerated the
importance of ensuring the corpse is buried in its entirety.
One sticking point in organ donation is the determination of death.
"In the Western world, in cases of brain death, it is permissible to
use the heart and lungs for donation. The rabbinical community in
Israel is hesitant to recognize brain death," said Frieda Horwitz of
the Unity Council for Ultra-Orthodox, Religious and Secular Relations.
There is no data showing how many organs are lost because of the
disagreement over when it is permissible to remove one for transplant.
The Unity Council arranges joint committees of doctors and rabbis in an
effort to deal with the confusion and cultivate a level of trust.
"Because of the confusion, a family may call up their rabbi from the
hospital to ask what to do. This takes time, and by the time they get a
response, the patient may no longer be able to donate," Horwitz said.
One project being developed by the Unity Council involves a network of
trained rabbis, on call throughout the country, who can provide
immediate guidance to religious families contemplating organ donation.
To further encourage religious donors, included on the donor card is
the option to donate organs "only on the condition it is confirmed by a
religious person chosen by my family."
Aik
Jonny
is human blood whether its from a black, white, yellow or green person(
unless there is some new scientific phenomenon that I don't know about
). This was just pure racism. They simply hate you so much they will
not even save their lives with your blood!
If you are worried about the blood being infected, why not just test
it?
Makes you wonder why Jesus is always depicted as being white even
though everything we know about him clearly suggests otherwise.
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